For the second consecutive year, the Sol Vista Bike Park in Granby, Colorado, hosted USA Cycling’s National Championship event. The downhill event was broken up into two courses, one for the pro class and junior experts, while the rest of the field raced on a slightly modified version of last year’s pro downhill course. The Sol Vista Bike Park crew did an excellent job of getting challenging racecourses ready for riders from across the country (although largely from Colorado), and their trail work efforts were apparent.


Looking down on the Sol Vista Bike Park.

A National Championship race should be held on terrain worthy of crowning a true champion. Winning on the Sol Vista downhill courses required riders to be competent in all aspects of bike handling, from navigating loose, technical terrain at speed to launching huge gap jumps.  If there was one common theme from the weekend of downhill racing on the challenging tracks, it was carnage. Ambulances ran non-stop from Sol Vista to a nearby medical center, with several racers being air-lifted to Denver to treat serious injuries. The notable injured rider list includes reigning Pro 4-Cross National Champion and 2009 Junior Expert downhill champion Mitch Ropelato, who broke his collarbone in Thursday morning’s 4-Cross practice. Ropelato, who was a podium favorite in both the weekend’s downhill and 4-Cross races, stated that he plans to have his clavicle plated and expects to be back on the bike in two weeks. Last year’s downhill World Championship bronze medalist Kathy Pruitt reportedly broke several ribs, bones in her back, and suffered a shoulder injury after crashing in downhill practice--injuries requiring her to be flown to Denver for treatment. And, X-Fusion/ODI/Intense rider Sean McClendon overshot the approximately 40-foot double jump towards the end of his race run. According to his teammate J.D. Swanguen, Sean has broken his pelvis in two places, suffered a dislocated hip, and will be having surgery to treat is injuries this evening. 

The National Championship downhill race is an all or nothing event, and riders hung out everything they had to be crowned champion. At the end of the day, the third ranked downhiller in the world, Aaron Gwin, of Morongo Valley, California, repeated as the Pro men’s National Champion. For the women, Jill Kintner earned yet another stars-and-stripes jersey, however this time it was in downhill, not 4-Cross.


Aaron Gwin entered the National Championship race ranked third in the World Cup series. After his win, he’ll be wearing the stars and stripes overseas again next year. Gwin crashed in his seeding run, but recovered to crush the field when it mattered.


The Sol Vista Pro downhill course incorporated a lot of man-made obstacles, like jumps and this ladder drop. Mike Haderer drops into 29th place.


Logan Binggeli put down an impressive run, and was beaten only by Gwin on the day. This is definitely Logan’s pro racing highlight to date.


Jill Kintner won the Pro women’s downhill, adding another championship jersey to her wardrobe.


Last year’s runner-up Duncan Riffle was off pace compared to his 2009 result, finishing in tenth place. Here he rips through a loose corner. Photos by Ryan Cleek


Kyle Strait put down a time fast enough for fourth place, despite severely bending his chainring on a rock in the beginning of his race run.


The 15 fastest qualifiers had to race through a sudden wind, rain and dust storm, making it nearly impossible to see the course.


J.D. “Iceman” Swanguen sends it in practice in his flight suit. Swanguen, who finished third in last year’s downhill championship, was disappointed with his ninth place result.


Yeti’s Joey Schusler navigates the unruly Sol Vista terrain en route to an impressive sixth place in Pro downhill.  Photos by Ryan Cleek


Twenty-one-year-old Mikey Sylvestri was the fastest Pro racer in the seeding run. He crashed on his race run near the bottom of the course, yet salvaged a thirteenth place finish.


Will Collins of Fort Collins, Colorado, on his way to 28th place.


SoCal’s Kevin Aiello goes big off of a mid-course hip jump during practice. Aiello and his day-glow GT Fury finished eleventh in the finals.


Keep an eye out for 20-year-old Eliot Jackson. He finished in seventh place in the star-filled Pro GRT event a few weeks ago at Northstar, and was crushing Sol Vista’s downhill course before he wrapped himself around a tree near the bottom of the course on his race run. Despite knocking half of the limbs off of the tree, he got up quickly and still beat 60 other pro racers.


Ryan Condrashoff was looking smooth in the finals, until he punctured his rear tire about a tenth of a second after this photo was taken.

Pro Men Top 10
1 Aaron Gwin - Morongo Valley, CA 2:21.17
2 Logan Binggeli - Saint George, UT 2:24.64

3 Tyler Immer - Rancho Murieta, CA 2:24.87

4 Kyle Strait - Huntington Beach, CA 2:25.46

5 Bradley Benedict - Auburn, CA 2:25.61

6 Joey Schusler - Boulder, CO 2:26.37

7 Cody Warren - Alpine, CA 2:26.59

8 Brian Buell - Boulder, CO 2:26.97

9 John Swanguen - San Diego, CA 2:27.11

10 Duncan Riffle - Santa Barbara, CA 2:27.30

Pro Women Top 5
1 Jill Kintner - Seattle, WA 2:46.20

2 Jacqueline Harmony - Sedona, AZ 2:49.66

3 Melissa Buhl - Chandler, AZ 2:51.13

4 Leigh Donovan - Murrieta, CA 2:51.89

5 Darian Harvey - Durango, CO 3:03.18


For complete National Championship results click here.







Story and photos by Ryan Cleek